Television series
| Crime Investigation Australia |
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 |
| Genre | Crime/Factual |
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| Presented by | Steve Liebmann
Matt Doran |
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| Country of origin | Australia |
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| Original language | English |
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| No. of seasons | 4 |
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| No. of episodes | 44 |
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| Executive producer | Graham McNeice |
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| Running time | 60 minutes; some episodes 90 minutes (including commercials) |
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|
| Network | Crime & Investigation Network (Pay TV)
Nine Network (free-to-air) |
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| Release | 2005 (2005) –
2009 (2009) |
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| Release | 2018 (2018) –
present |
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Crime Investigation Australia is an Australian true-crime series that first premiered on pay TV Foxtel's Crime & Investigation Network in August 2005.[1] The series was also rebroadcast on the free to air Nine Network, and made its debut there on 14 August 2007.[2] The original host of the series was Steve Liebmann and is currently on Channel 7 with host Matt Doran.
Production
The series was produced by Graham McNeice who resides in Moore Park, New South Wales and is director of Shadow Productions. In a 2008 interview, McNeice said the impetus for the series was to provide an element of local content to a channel (Foxtel) that is dominated by American and European crime stories.[3] Foxtel announced that the series would be "rested" for 2010, however, it never returned.
The series included interviews from victims, families, investigators, lawyers, and journalists. The crimes were further reviewed using original media and police audio and video footage alongside re-enactments and interviews shot in the same locations where the crimes took place.[4]
Reception
The show was generally well received. Michelle Nagy in her Editorial Review of the program writes:
”Crime Investigation Australia presents an impressive package, using re-enactments, montages of real evidence, locations, maps, photos and real footage – not to mention leading Australian anchor Steve Liebmann, who lends weight and integrity to the series."[5]
Similarly:
“...McNeice's films skilfully dramatise the stories behind these cases, though in disturbing the past he sometimes creates a sense of dismay... McNeice, with his just-the-facts method, unashamedly gives us criminality, violence, gritty realism, horror and psychopathology. There is no apology and no shame here, which is what makes it such riveting TV."[6]
A recent review by David Knox explains that:
"...it shies away from emotive, sometimes even racist, sensationalism of other players. CIA has also triggered viewers to come forth with new information – surely a measure of success for any in this genre."[7]
Another review states:
"Crime Investigation Australia has all the hallmarks of a pay-TV documentary – lots of stock footage, dodgy re-enactments, eerie music and talking heads – but nevertheless tells an engaging tale."[8]
The re-enactments featured on the show are often explicit, as for example the Anita Cobby episode in which the moment of the murder is replayed over and over again. There are also inaccuracies and anachronisms, for example in the Beaumont Children Mystery episode where the hairstyles and hair lengths of the child actresses playing Jane and Arnna Beaumont do not match photographs of the real children and Jane is wearing a 2006-era pink "Speedo" female child's swimsuit instead of a period-accurate little girl's swimsuit.
Revival
In 2018, Channel 7 began re-broadcasting some but not all of the original episodes originally hosted by Steve Liebmann on Foxtel and Channel 9. It was re branded Crime Investigation Australia: Most Infamous.[9] This new series is hosted by Matt Doran. Doran revised the original series with new information and updates on particular cases and new episode voice narration for each episode to replace Steve Liebmann's voice used in the previous episodes during their Foxtel and Channel 9 airing. It is listed as a separate series from Crime Investigation Australia and is still available on 7 Plus In Australia.
In 2022, Season 4 of Crime Investigation Australia premiered on Channel 7 with new crimes investigated, again with Doran as host.
Episode 4 was aired on 19 April 2023, later than all other S04 episodes that aired in 2022. This episode hiatus was to coincide with the premiere Two part drama series shown on Channel 7/7 Plus titled The Claremont Murders in April 2023 which airing on the 10 and 17 April 2023 respectively. This Episode 4 is an additional, updated episode with further case developments than the Claremont episode from Season 2, Episode 7 which was released in 2008, 15 years earlier.
